Archeologists have recently discovered bones of tuna and sharks dating as far back as 42.000 years ago in a cave in East Timor, an island near Australia.
This finding has somewhat baffled scientists because catching tuna is a deep-sea activity which requires advanced maritime and fishing skills and instruments, whereas the earliest known boats, found in France and the Netherlands, only date back 10.000 years ago.
Wood, however does not preserve very well over time, so it is not really all that surprising that more ancient boats have not been discovered yet. On the other hand simply the fact that people have colonized islands sometimes as far away as 16 miles from the mainland around 45.000 years ago is itself a proof that boats must have already existed at the time.
What is more surprising is that in order to catch fast moving and deep sea fishes like tuna, these prehistoric men must have used fairly advanced tools such as nets and hooks, the evidence of which is yet to be found. The only fishing tool discovered in the cave was a 23.000 year-old hook made of shell, but it is unclear how this hook could have been used for deep-sea fishing without a very strong type of string attached to it.
Other archeologists have argued that the relatively small size of the tuna bones discovered suggests that they must have belonged to juvenile fish that may have been caught close to land and that East Timor has a very steep offshore topography so that the deep waters favoured by sharks and tuna are actually very close to the land.
What can be proven undeniably from these findings, however, is that since the remains of tuna were found in caves, this would indicate quite clearly that a form of takeaway already existed at the time and that the fishermen must have received some rewards for returning home with their precious catchings.
In other words Urbanbite may have invented online takeaway ordering, but the concept of takeaway itself has existed for a long, long time.
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